Socialist Republic of Vietnam

DOW JONES NEWSWIRES

HOUSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov. 17, 2003-- ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP), an owner of the Cuu Long Joint Operating Company (CLJOC), today announced first production from the SuTu Den (Black Lion) field located in Block 15-1 offshore Vietnam's east coast. Production began October 29 on budget and ahead of schedule.

The initial production rate of approximately 60,000 barrels of oil per day (BOPD) of 36-degree API gravity crude oil comes from seven basement formation production wells located in the Phase I area. Oil is being processed and stored in Cuulong M/V 9, a new floating production, storage and offloading vessel. The Cuulong M/V 9, which has a one million-barrel storage capacity, can initially process 65,000 BOPD and is expandable.

Initial production from the Phase I area of SuTu Den field will be from the basement formation, with lower miocene production to be added in coming years. CLJOC plans to drill additional development and appraisal wells in the SuTu Den and SuTu Vang (Golden Lion) fields in 2004. In addition, CLJOC has conducted a 3-D seismic survey over 400 square kilometers of the SuTu Trang (White Lion) area, located in the southeast corner of block 15-1. Drilling of the SuTu Trang prospect has been completed. Initial results are positive.

SuTu Den was discovered in October 2000 as a result of the first wildcat well (15-1-SD-1X) drilled in Block 15-1. Following that discovery, CLJOC discovered the SuTu Vang field with the second wildcat well (15-1-SV-1X) in 2001. SuTu Den lies approximately 145 kilometers east of Vung Tau at a water depth of 52 meters.

Owners of CLJOC are: ConocoPhillips, 23.25 percent; PetroVietnam Exploration and Production (a subsidiary of PetroVietnam), 50 percent; Korean National Oil Corporation, 14.25 percent; SK Corp., 9 percent; and Geopetrol, 3.5 percent.

ConocoPhillips is an integrated petroleum company with interests around the world. Headquartered in Houston, the company had approximately 54,800 employees, $82 billion of assets, and $106 billion of annualized revenues as of Sept. 30, 2003.